This invention relates to footballs, and in particular to the lacing for footballs.
Conventional footballs have lacing on their outer shells to close the football and to provide a hand grip to facilitate handling the football. This lacing has generally been applied by hand. Lace holes are die punched through the outer shell, the lining, and the lining support or stay (if there is one). The lacer typically uses an awl to thread the lace, (which is usually made of Dawhide), through the prepunched holes. Often the lacer uses a special tongue or support to protect the bladder from damage during lacing. The process of hand lacing the football is tedious and time consuming, and adds substantially to the cost of manufacturing footballs. Attempts have been made to provide substitutes for conventional lacing, but for various reasons these have not been satisfactory. Reference may be had to U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,182,053, 2,295,815, and 2,653,818 for example footballs having imitation lacing.